


Before Dawn

by Morgana



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 04:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melissa tries to figure things out after her divorce</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before Dawn

Melissa McCall stared down at the bills spread out on the kitchen table and sighed. She wasn’t going to be able to pay all of them. Again. It had been the same story last month and the month before - there just wasn’t enough money to pay the mortgage, keep the phone and lights on, keep the car running, and buy all the things a growing boy needed, like food and clothes and school supplies. Ever since Rafe left, things had been getting tougher and tougher, but with a little judicious belt-tightening and a few extra shifts, she’d managed to keep it all together and make ends meet - until now.

There was no getting around it - they were going to have to move. She really hadn’t wanted to, if only because she wanted to give Scott as much stability as possible, but they just couldn’t stay here on her salary alone. And the house was only the tip of the iceberg. She’d have to trade her car in, get something a little older and a lot cheaper, Scott’s braces were going to have to wait, along with the computer she knew he’d been hoping for for his birthday...

She buried her face in her hands. How was she supposed to do this? How was she supposed to support herself and a son alone? And who was going to be there for Scott when he started going through puberty? Who would tell him all the things a boy needed to know, things she had no clue about because she’d never been a boy? Who would teach him to shave and help him with his sports teams and give him advice on girls and - well, okay, Melissa could do that last one. A lot better than Rafe, actually, considering that Rafe thought women basically existed to make sandwiches, fetch beers, and look pretty. But when it came to the rest, she was completely lost.

“Mom?” She raised her head to see her son standing in the living room doorway, looking at her with wide brown eyes.

“Hey, Scotty. You’re supposed to be in bed, you know.” She gave him a tired smile. “Big day tomorrow.”

“Actually, that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Why do I hafta go to private school? I mean, public school’s good, too, right?”

“Your dad wants you to go to this school,” she reminded him. “It’s where he went, and it’s important to both of us that you get a good education.”

She’d expected that would be the end of it, but Scott raised his chin, and Melissa realized with some surprise that he actually looked a lot like her when he did that. “I’d rather go to public school,” he said, quiet but clear. “I don’t really care what Dad wants.”

And there it was, the hurt and anger that she’d known was there, even if he kept telling her he was fine. “Oh, honey,” she said softly, stretching her hand out to him. “Your dad and I... I know it’s hard, but he loves you. You know that, right?”

“He didn’t love either of us enough to stay,” Scott replied, and Melissa’s battered heart broke just a little more. “And if he can’t bother to stay with us, then I don’t care if I go to his school or not.”

This was probably where she was supposed to tell him that Rafe had left her, not him, or explain that it was her refusal to chase after that big posting in DC he wanted, along with that pretty little assistant with no kids, that was ending the marriage. And maybe she was a bad person, because she didn’t want to go into any of that. Scott never needed to know about the posting or the assistant, and Rafe had left both of them. Besides, if she didn’t have to pay tuition for that fancy private school (or get the very expensive uniforms) then maybe they could afford to keep the house, after all.

Melissa pulled her son in for a hug. “If you’re sure,” she said quietly. “We’ll go down to the junior high tomorrow, okay?”

He nodded and she sent him back to bed, then took great pleasure in ripping up the school’s first quarter bill. Her car was still going to have to be traded in, and she might have to switch to night shifts for a while, but for the first time since Rafe walked out the door, Melissa actually felt like they might make it. Thanks to Scott - damn, she had a great kid.

He really was the best thing to come out of her train wreck of a marriage. Well, him and the watch Rafe had given her. She did like that watch.


End file.
